This document discusses strategies for building social presence in online courses. It begins by introducing the authors, Patrick Lowenthal and Joanna Dunlap, and their backgrounds. It then explores what social presence means and why it matters for engagement. The authors investigated lessons learned about social presence through two inquiries. The first identified themes around connections, working together, access, fun, and the unexpected. The second examined high impact and low-cost strategies like orientations, feedback, discussions, and introductions. The document concludes by matching high- and low-tech tools to foster social presence and engagement.

1. Reaching out, being there
What we know and don't know about social presence
Patrick Lowenthal, Boise State University ~ patricklowenthal@boisestate.edu ~ @plowenthal
Joanna Dunlap, University of Colorado Denver ~ joni.dunlap@ucdenver.edu ~ @jonidunlap

2. About us ~ Patrick’s bio
Superhero moniker: The Polemicist
Superhero powers: arguing for sport, creating reasons to
drink craft beer, refusing to setup time machine, data
recovery, starting (far too many) projects simultaneously,
quoting national lampoons vacation, buying books I’ll
never read.
Favorite color: blue

3. About us ~ Patrick’s story
Photo attribution: Wikipedia

4. About us ~ Joni’s bio
Superhero moniker: ViperPal
Superhero powers: work avoidance, mass email deleting,
stirring two bowls of hot soup at the same time,
knowledge of every pop song from the 1970s, squirrel-
chatter translation, and x-ray vision.
Favorite color: purple

5. About us ~ Joni’s story

6. What’s social presence?
[ Share in the Chat pod ]
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec

7. Why does social presence matter?
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec
[ Share in the Chat pod ]

8. Social creatures/context & engagement

9. investigating social presence
Inquiry A: Lesson’s Learned

10. Social presence “lessons learned”
A lesson learned…
Relevant feedback is essential!
What’s one of your lessons
learned?
[ Share your lesson in the Chat pod ]
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec

11. Inquiry A: Social presence “lessons learned”
• Feedback
• Relationships
• High touch
• Know audience
• Accessible
• Kindness & equitable
• Humor
• Playful
• Async. & sync. technologies
• Character / Persona
• Presence matters
• Build community
• Faces with names
• Learn about each other
• Cooperation & collaboration

12. Lessons Learned
What themes do you see
in this list?
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec
[ Share in the Chat pod ]

13. Inquiry A, Theme 1
Saturday morning, waiting at a restaurant;
me online w/ students while we look up
information on bats
Connecting
Connections1

14. Inquiry A, Theme 2
Photo attribution: Nelson Taylo
Working
together2

15. Inquiry A, Theme 3
Photo attribution: Ben Potte
Access3

16. Inquiry A, Theme 4
Fun
Unexpected
Play
4

17. investigating social presence
Inquiry B: Biggest Bang for the Buck

18. Inquiry B: “Biggest bang for the buck” strategies
Created by Scott Lewis — Noun
Project
Created by BraveBros — Noun
Project
Orientations
& Feedback
Created by iconminds.com — Noun
Project
Created by Diego Naive — Noun
Project
Created by TukTuk Design — Noun
Project
Agendas
Created by Liane Kirschner — Noun
Project
Discussions Music
Created by factor(e) design initiative—Noun
Project
Social Media Collaboration
Introductions 5-minute Personal Announcements

19. Inquiry B: Affordances of synchronous connections
How do you use synchronous
communication tools in your
online courses, and why?
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec
[ Share in the Chat pod ]

20. Inquiry B: Affordances of personal video
How do you use video of
yourself and/or your students
in your online courses, and
why?
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec
[ Share in the Chat pod ]

21. Inquiry B: Affordances of social media/networking
How do you use social media
and networking in your
online courses, and why?
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec
[ Share in the Chat pod ]

22. Inquiry B: Affordances of lower-tech strategies
What lower-tech. or no-tech.
strategies do you use in
your online courses, and why?
Attribution: Anna Wojtowicz (the Noun Projec
[ Share in the Chat pod ]

23. Putting it all together

24. High- to low-tech strategies for high touch
High Tech. Low Tech.
[ ]

25. High tech: Synchronous Video { web conferences }

26. High tech: Asynchronous Video { announcements }

27. High tech: Asynchronous Video { digital stories }

28. High tech: Asynchronous Video { animation }

29. Mid tech: Collective Sharing { discussions }

30. Mid tech: Collective Sharing { google docs }

31. Mid tech: Collective Sharing { dialogues }

32. Mid tech: Collective Sharing { flickr }

33. Mid tech: Collective Sharing { word of the week }

34. Mid tech: Collective Sharing { spotify }

35. Mid tech: Collective Sharing { social networking }

36. Low tech: High touch familiar tools { phone }

37. Low tech: High touch familiar tools { announcements }

38. Low tech: High touch familiar tools { email }

39. Let’s Co-Create a List
Attribution: use iconic.com (the Noun Projec
https://goo.gl/N27Yv9 (main)
https://goo.gl/iCzo2R (backup)
What do you do to ignite and
sustain social presence?

40. Let’s Connect & Keep the Conversation Going
Additional Reading [http://patricklowenthal.com/research/]